The toolbox has gone through many incarnations since Photoshop was first introduced. More tools have been added and some modified and combined. This chapter is a reference on each of the tools provided with Photoshop CS2.

The
toolbox
has
gone
through
many
incarnations
since
Photoshop
was
first
introduced.
More
tools
have
been
added
and
some
modified
and
combined.
Photoshop
also
shares
most
of the
same
tools
as ImageReady,
with
a few
differences
that
you’ll
see
later.
This
chapter
is a
reference
on each
of the
tools.
Skim
over
it for
just
the
tools
you
are
trying
to learn
or read
it straight
through.
Many
tools
have
a keyboard
shortcut
assigned
to them
to access
them
immediately
without
having
to locate
them
on the
toolbox.
When
you
hover
your
mouse
over
tools
in the
toolbox,
a ToolTip
gives
you
the
name
of the
tool
and
the
keyboard
shortcut
bound
to it
(see
Figure
3.1).
Some
tools
actually
have
groups
of tools
hidden
underneath
them.
You
can
tell
whether
there
are
hidden
tools
if an
arrow
is fixed
in the
lower-right
corner
of the
tool’s
button.

Figure
3.1 A
ToolTip appears when the mouse
pointer hovers over a tool in
the toolbox.

Using the Options Bar

When you have chosen a tool from the Toolbox, look in the Options bar for
ways to apply settings to the tool. As you select a particular tool, the Options
bar shows the settings for that tool in that context. So the Options bar always
has different options available depending on the tool selected. Not all tools
have options you can change, but most of them have some options you can change
in the Options bar.

Understanding Paint Options

There are painting options available when one of the paint tools is selected.
Paint tools include the Brush, the Pencil, the Gradient, and the Paint Bucket
tools. Options you can change for these tools are the mode (which is the
blending overlay effect as the tool paints), the opacity, and the flow, to name
a few. Opacity settings for painting with these tools enable you to paint with a
transparent ink, with one that is completely opaque, and with every percentage
between.

Understanding Type Options

After you select one of the type tools, many options are available in the
Options bar. Choose a font family from the font family menu. In Photoshop CS2, a
preview of your font families shows up in the menu. If different font styles
like Bold and Italic or Oblique are built into the font, those are available
under the font style menu in the Options bar. Change the point size of the font
from the Font Size menu. You can select one of the sizes in the menu or type
your own value in the box. The highlighted text in the type layer is updated; if
no type was selected, the next characters typed use these settings. When you use
the Character and Paragraph palettes, these options and more are available, but
the convenience of the Options bar is what makes it so valuable.

Many other options are available, depending on the tool selected. Although
this book cannot cover all these options in detail, you will explore some of
them as the tools are covered in the following pages.